US premiere of a recently composed chamber orchestra version of The Cloud Messenger by Gustav Holst.

Presented by Chora Nova

Chora Nova - Holst - The Cloud Messenger

The Cloud Messenger is a setting, in Holst’s own translation of the Sanskrit, of Meghadūta, a much-admired lyric poem by the fifth-century Indian classical poet and dramatist Kālidāsa.  Holst creates a wonderfully pictorial musical canvas which evokes every detail of Kālidāsa’s poetic imagery as the cloud passes over the land: the sweeping movement of the cloud itself; the people and places it passes over as it travels; the musicians and dancers gathering in the sacred city in the Himalayas, their pace gradually becoming more frenetic until the God Shiva himself descends for the Cosmic Dance; and finally the chamber of the beloved, where the cloud delivers the message of love.

Additionally on the program is Frostiana by Randall Thompson, a collection of settings of poems by Robert Frost
 

Date:
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City: Berkeley
Price Range:
$10-$30

Program Items

Gustav Holst The Cloud Messenger
Randall Thompson Frostiana

Performers

Paul Flight Artistic Director
Gabriela Estephanie Solis mezzo soprano

First Church Berkeley

First Church Berkeley

2345 Channing Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
United States